Quick Links

The Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison is a center
for interdisciplinary research into the causes and consequences of poverty and inequality and the impact
of related policies and programs. As the National Poverty Research Center sponsored by the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, IRP coordinates the U.S. Collaborative of Poverty Centers in an integrated
set of activities with the ultimate goal of improving the effectiveness of public policies to reduce poverty
and inequality and their impacts on the well-being of the American people.

A State of Agents? Third Party Governance and Implications for Human Services

July 2008, University of Wisconsin–Madison

This research conference will address important issues raised by public policy
and management scholars regarding the burgeoning number of third-party entities
that play increasingly central roles in the design, management, and execution
of public policy.

A central goal of this conference is to advance new ideas and theoretical
arguments for research and generate new empirical evidence that sharpens the
debate over the extent and impact of the increasing use of agents of the state
to implement public policy. The purpose of a primarily empirical rather than
a normative approach is to see if the assertion of governmental transformation
with more leakage of authority to third parties (and the corresponding difficulties
it may create for effective governance) holds up to empirical scrutiny. This
conference will consider the consequences—in the increasingly common
context in which agents of the state influence how the government performs
its work—from the politics of policy development to primary work tasks
and client outcomes. For example, these issues are particularly important
in social services delivery, where nongovernmental service providers may have
primary control over who gets access to different types of benefits
and services (cash transfers, counseling, training, support, etc.), their quality,
and the efficiency and efficacy with which they are delivered. In other words,
the success of many of our public policies and programs—in terms of core
principles such as justice and equity in access, quality, efficiency, responsiveness
and representation—may be determined primarily by agents of the state,
sometimes with little oversight or weak mechanisms of accountability and control
(political or bureaucratic). The poor, who rely disproportionately on the state
for access to basic services (e.g., health care, food and nutrition supplements,
child care, employment assistance, housing, and others), are particularly exposed
to the impacts of these changes.

This conference is being organized by Carolyn Heinrich, with financial support
from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services; the University of Arizona, School
of Public Administration and Policy, Eller College of Management; the University
of Washington, Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs; and the University
of Southern California, School of Policy, Planning, and Development.

Agenda

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

6:00-7:30 pm

Opening ReceptionCarolyn Heinrich, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Thursday, July 24, 2008

8:45 am

Opening remarks and overview of conference
themesCarolyn Heinrich, University of Wisconsin–Madison
and H. Brinton Milward, University of Arizona

9:15-10:15 am

The State of Agents: An Intellectual AgendaLaurence E. Lynn, Jr., University of Chicago

10:30-11:30 pm

Third-Party Governance under No Child Left Behind: Accountability and Performance Management Challenges in Supplemental Educational Services ProvisionCarolyn Heinrich, University of Wisconsin–Madison

11:30-12:00 pm

Discussant: Stephen Page, University
of Washington

1:30-2:30 pm

Relational
Contracting and Network ManagementAnthony Bertelli, University of Georgia and Craig Smith, University
of Arizona

2:45-3:45 pm

Contracting
for Complex ProductsTrevor Brown, Ohio State University, Matthew Potoski, Iowa
State University, and David Van Slyke, Syracuse University